Hi. I have a podcast interview coming up with a gentleman who only uses his cell phone. I’ve interviewed him before and it was painful getting a half decent transcription.
Barring other ways to record via my PC, I am using Google Voice and trying to record w audacity at the WASAPI setting. I come in loud and clear of course but you can barely hear the other party. Any thoughts on how to fix appreciated. And if there’s another way to make calls on a PC that I’m not aware of, that’s fine too. I’m not wedded to Google voice by any means, but he won’t use Skype.
Interested in hearing from others who have used the WASAPI function…and how you used it to record a telephone conversation. Normally use Zencastr and then edit with Audacity but that doesn’t appear to be an option.
hmm…I have a Zoom H2N as well as a number of other XLR and USB mics. Perhaps that would offer some kind of workaround if I experiment with those a bit. Zoom can be used as a mic. The TP-8 is only 15 bucks? That’s interesting. How’s the sound quality? That’s the underlying issue.
If I did that, I really wouldn’t need the WASAPI setting, would I? It’d just be an Audacity recording of two voices from one source. I wonder if that might create echo problems though.
Looking at the Audacity manual, it recommends using Stereo Mix for your internal driver (in which case I’d use Google Voice). I wonder if that would make a difference? I’m really not sure why both voices aren’t the same, given that the phone is right next to me on speaker.
I feel like I don’t have the optimal settings. If you were going to record a phone call with Audacity, what settings would you use?
In case it’s not obvious, it plugs in my ear. It records me through bone conduction and the guest as a regular microphone recording of the phone earpiece.
That’s why it doesn’t look like any microphone you’ve ever seen before.
It works with any connection that looks like a computer Mic-In. It needs “Plug-In-Power.” It works from the computer’s 5v power system. The H2n has a place to plug a device like this. See if it mentions Plug-In-Power in the instructions.
so a plug in from the USB Port on the computer to the H2N should do it?
I’m still wondering about what are the right settings for recording using the WASAPI or other setting. I’m sure I am screwing up and it would be good to figure it out. If WASAPI is recording directly from the computer (and not a cell phone at all) there should be a way to do it, I assume. I am assuming it’s something I don’t know, rather than a flaw in the software or anything like that.
I’m still wondering about what are the right settings for recording using the WASAPI or other setting.
If you find a way, let us know.
There’s a very basic problem. Chat applications work by having a death grip on the computer sound pathways and be absolutely unwilling to let go. Your voice is a service of the computer, so that one’s a piece of cake. The guest sound is a service of Skype, and Skype is not keen to share. That plus you’re asking Audacity to record from two different devices and it will not easily do that.
Here’s another sound clip. This one’s the TP-7 microphone and the adapters.
This one’s been corrected for telephone volume shifts.
There is a caution. If you do somehow force the computer to work, there’s a terrific chance you’re going to screw up the Skype call. Everything is connected to everything else.
so a plug in from the USB Port on the computer to the H2N should do it?
I think I would record the whole thing on the H2n and then transfer the sound file. After you get that working, then think about connecting to the computer. There’s just nothing like having bad sound and the system is so complicated you can’t figure out what to fix.
It does make me nervous that the connection on the H2n is called LINE-IN with a microphone symbol. Those two don’t easily cross. Line is 1000 times louder than Microphone and you can’t correct one into the other.
This is what the ZOOM people told me about the H2N:
You would not be able to accomplish this with the H2n, because when you connect an external audio source, the onboard mics will be bypassed.
They then gave me a very lengthy response about how to make it work with the H6 which I’ll be happy to share if you like.
I think my best bet might just be to use your system - or essentially bypass the computer altogether and just record it externally on the ZOOM or other device. It would be great to get Audacity to work though. i know there’s got to be a way to even out the levels.
You may have asked the wrong question. The goal is to bypass the Zoom microphones and use the TP-8 by itself. They thought you needed the Zoom microphones to record you and the special microphone to record the call.
The TP-8 delivers an automatic mix of your voice and the guest by itself.
Yes, I did order it.
Spa
I asked the question of the ZOOM folks before we started interacting. I wanted to see what they had to say.
So here’s a very specific question. I went to Audacity. Went with WASAPI and the Speaker/Audio/Realtek/Loopback for recording device. This time, it recorded my caller PERFECTLY, but me not at all! I’m sure that’s an easy fix, right?
